‘Also, of late, I have really struggled with the representation of 1%er category romance heroes. The good-looking, gazillionaire made of steal waiting to be melted by a heroine with a heart of gold is a total stretch for me even at the best of times. Gandalf is more likely to exist.’ — Vassiliki Veros, Shallowreader

@BookThingo It is doing my head in! I can't read anything with Billionaire in the freakin' title. I just think "Dickhead!"

Hayley Nash and romantic suspense author Shannon Curtis talk about sexy euphemisms in the second episode of the new Macquarie Dictionary podcast, Word for Word. You can listen to the episode here. Their segment starts at around 7:15.

Speaking of Haylee Nash (formerly Harlequin, then Booktopia, then Macmillan), she has decided to branch out on her own. The Nash Agency offers editing services as well as representation.

Kindle Unlimited is now available in Australia for AU$13.99 per month. — Books+Publishing

Randa Abdel-Fattah, author of When Michael Met Mina [ Review ], has been nominated for the 2017 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award. This is the largest international children’s/YA literature award. The winner will be announced at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair in April. — Books+Publishing

Leave me by Gayle Forman [ BT | Amz ] made the shortlist of the Bad Sex in Fiction prize. You can read extracts from the nominees here. I really don’t think Forman’s contribution is anywhere near the worst sex scene I’ve ever read. It’s actually kind of sweet, in my opinion.

I wish people did less hand-wringing over why boys don't read YA and more hand-wringing over why poor kids don't have access to books.

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Kat Mayo is a freelance writer, podcaster, Twitter tragic, and compulsive reader. Her reviews have appeared in Books+Publishing, and she was the winner of the 2014 RWA Romance Media Award. She believes in happy endings, and kills fairies with glee.